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We are looking for a high performance salesprofessional to help generate new busines. The candidate must be a “hunter”with a good handle of the selling process and sales cycle to identify customerneeds, decision makers, key dependencies, and have a “consultative selling”approach, creating differentiators and a higher value perception for theservices being proposed. He/she must be able to achieve revenue targetsconsistently. He/she should be willing to work flexible hours with some eveningand weekend appointments.

Job Description

• Able to analyze each client’s need and advisethem of our services, including fund raising, legal and administrative services,and office space usage. • Achieve monthly, quarterly and annual salestargets• Achieve lead generation, prospecting and othersales management goals designed to build an optimal sales pipeline.• Manage the end-to-end sales process for allopportunities, including initial client communication, on-site presentations,proposal creation and submission, negotiation and deal signing• The candidate is the focal point for allcommunication and sales activities with prospects and customers.

After such a great response from our last post on entrepreneurial leadership characteristics, we thought we’d write a Part II with descriptions of the 4 different leadership styles and how they match you and your organization.

Authoritarian

Authoritarian leaders control almost everything around them with no participation from employees. Employees may not like the authoritarian leader, as it gives them less freedom and room to create initiatives.These leaders are also known to bossy and perhaps less focused on their employees’ emotions. However, some believe it is the best style to get things done right without losing time, as you don’t have people questioning every decision you make.

Donald Trump, who is the definition of an American success story at times can be seen as an authoritarian leader. By centralizing decision-making, and wielding absolute power, he limits input from a select few in his team. Whatever his employees may think of this leadership style, it allowed him to reach a high level of excellence in his business.

Paternalistic

The paternalistic leader is a dominant style where the leader will wield her power and influence and expect loyalty and obedience. In the paternalistic leadership style, there is still a great amount of authority, but this leader is more willing to help her employees become more efficient. This leader has compassion for her employees, yet she will make the final call.While the hierarchical distance between employees and manager is still significant, respect and admiration for the latter is a key component of successful paternalistic leadership.

For all of you football (soccer, for the Americans) fans out there, the great manager Jose Mourinho represents this style of leadership. He is highly respected by his players, due to his experience, his career and his knowledge. The trust he puts in his players helps to build a relationship that leads to great results on the pitch (field).

Democratic

Democratic leadership is a participatory style, in which your employees have a say in the decision process. Democratic leadership can be very popular with employees, as their opinions are heard and they are free to voice concerns.As a democratic leader, a crucial task is being ready to commit with conviction, as this type of leader will often get presented with many possibilities.

US President Barack Obama is an example of a democratic leader. Surrounded by extremely competent people, one of his most significant tasks is gathering information from the people around him and then choosing the best option to solve problems.He must use the information and opinions of the people around him to confidently make decisions that affect an entire nation.

Laissez-faire

The laissez-faire leadership style literally means “hands off”. This is a style that can be very comfortable for entrepreneurs, as this person has the ability to focus on the business and solving problems, while the people around her strive to follow that lead. This style is all about setting the right tone so that others will instinctively follow this leader’s example. To carry out this style of leadership requires trust and hiring the right people.

Warren Buffet is a good example of this leadership style. He believes in giving autonomy to a confident management team. He always has trust in the teams of the companies he owns and knows they are capable, confident, and motivated.

On July 30, Roberto & Co organized an event called « Acting Like A Leader », with guest speaker Michael J. Rosenthal, the national director of Miss Earth China and president of Qin Xin Media.

According to M. Rosenthal, most people are not natural born leaders, but instead develop characteristics over time that great leaders possess. Being an effective leader is not about what you know, it’s about how you act and interact with others. By identifying areas in which you lack skills and working to improve, and by maximizing your own strengths, you can grow to become a better leader in work and in your personal life.

There are many traits that characterize an effective leader, but among them, we will focus on the 5 that we think are typically important in entrepreneurial leadership.

Confidence: A leader has to show confidence. No one will ever trust someone who has difficulties in trusting himself. One must be sure about the decisions he makes and be assertive.

Communication: A good leader should have the ability to express very clear expectations concerning the initiatives, tasks, and desired outcome. People will be more motivated when they have clearly defined goals to achieve. Also, don’t neglect to be crystal-clear with what needs to be improved and how they can make those improvements.

Listen: Don’t be that entrepreneur that thinks that because he founded the company, he always has the best ideas. Great leaders listen to what their employees have to say. Let them express their thoughts and they will give you ideas that you never would have thought about on your own!

Empowering: A lot of your company’s achievements will come from the way you empower and motivate your troops. The effects of verbal rewards and showing recognition have always been very important for the intrinsic motivation of employees. If you do well in this field, your employees will only be more willing to achieve your company’s goals!

Positive: This one is perhaps the most important. Being an entrepreneur is never an easy task. There will always be hard times but these difficult moments become easier if you remain positive for yourself and those around you. No one likes being around a negative person, so lift your head up and start putting on a happy face for yourself and those around you.

This is the second post we've done on WFOE registration. If you're interested in reading the first post on naming your company, you can read that here.

When registering your WOFE in China, one of the first things you must do is provide a bank reference letter to show that you actually have a bank account abroad. There are two key points to consider- whether you are registering as an individual or with a parent company. As an individual, you must provide an overseas account, and that account must be identical to the name on your passport. As an individual, it's ok to simply open a new account with no history. When opening a company with an existing parent company, your account must be active and have a good credit history.

One of the questions we often receive is about the format of this letter and what exactly is needed. Each bank has their own format, so I've attached a sample of what a bank reference letter should look like. We typically provide our clients with a sample such as this so that they may show their bank to avoid any confusion.

For any other questions regarding WFOE registration, please feel free to use the contact form to get in touch with us or chat with us in the comments below.

We get a lot of questions on various aspects of company registration and procedures so we thought we’d start laying out some of the most frequently asked questions in a series of blog posts. One question that comes up a lot is how to name your company. It seems to be quite the pain for many people, as their name choices are often rejected by the government. There is no need to cause an extra time delay due to not being able to file a name correctly. We typically give the following suggestions to our clients:

Create a name that sounds similar to your English name

In China, the characters you choose for your business must be completely unique to be accepted. This means that trying to find the most meaningful and poetic name for your business will be quite challenging, if not impossible. The odds of picking out a clever name that no one has thought of before are quite slim. Therefore, we suggest just picking out some characters that sounds like your company’s English name. This shouldn’t be too difficult of a task, as there are generally many combinations that can be made with characters that sound relatively close to your English name.

Choose a list of 10 names

As stated above, a good strategy is to pick a list of names with characters that sound close to your company’s English name. One, however, may not be enough. You don’t want to find yourself with big delays in the registration process because your names get rejected. Instead of taking a chance and rolling the dice on one name working out, it’s better to make a list of about ten names to submit. That way, there’s a pretty good shot that one of them will work out.

Shorter is Better!

We typically suggest that our clients file 2 character names. Seems like longer would be better when trying to choose a unique name, right? The reason is that even if the name is longer, if 2 characters are the same, it will generally be rejected. Since the combinations of characters need to be unique, you have a higher probability of being accepted if you have a short, 2 character name.

On July 15th, Yu-link hosted an event, along with Roberto & Co, to discuss cross-cultural communication. Presentations were led by Kristian Sletten and Amirsan Roberto. Kristian is a multi-cultural freelance project manager who has lived on five continents ! Amirsan has lived in multiple countries and has started three companies across Asia.

Here are the 7 communication barriers that they shared with us that you may experience when doing business in Chinaor elsewhere in the world:

1. Physical- There is a physical barrier present across various cultures, so its always important to keep this in mind when communicating in a foreign country. In some countries, it is acceptable to stand right in someone’s face when you’re talking. In other places, it just makes people uncomfortable!

2. Perceptual- Every person perceives the world differently, so there are some barriers that may exist only in your head. Maybe you have thoughts about a group of people before you meet them. It’s always important to keep an open mind and not let perceptions fool you.

3. Emotional- Some cultures are generally more expressive and emotional, while others tend to be more closed off. Sometimes, it is just a matter of how well you know someone. In some countries, you may believe that the people are cold until really getting to know them. In other places, people can appear to be too friendly.

4. Cultural- Every culture across the globe is different, and it is important to know what is accepted and not accepted in various cultures to make sure you aren’t accidentally offending someone!

5. Language-Clearly, language can be a barrier to communication. If two people speak different languages, or if you just can’t come up with the words you need at the appropriate times, language can be a huge communication barrier.

6. Gender- In many places, there are gender barriers, and its important to understand that men and women are held at different levels in certain places. In some parts of the world, men make all the decisions at work, but the women rule the household. In other places, it may be the opposite.

7. Interpersonal- There is an interpersonal barrier that exists in various cultures- in some places, people are open and friendly; in others, the people are more reserved and closed off. Same holds true for the interpersonal barrier as it does for many of these- if you truly get to know a person, these barriers quickly fall.

Some of the main takeaways from these lessons is that it’s important to be patient, understanding, and open when dealing with these communication barriers. The best way to overcome all of these is by having an appreciation and understanding of where other people come from, and learn how to communicate with people on their level. If you go to enough places, you are bound to make mistakes and cultural faux pas, but the important thing is to show a respect for all people and their cultures.

One of our goals here at Yu-link is to make things as easy as possible for new start-ups and to help those with the dream to own their own business to actually make that a reality. We have one of the best deals in town for business registration and for July and August, we are going to make the deal even better. If you register your WOFE this July or August, you will receive your choice of 1 free month in one of our hot desks or 3 months free virtual office. WOFE registration is only 16,000 RMB and 12,000 RMB for Yu-link members.

There have been many changes to the law over the past years in China regarding business registration and it's becoming easier and faster to register your business. We want to help as many new startups in Shanghai as possible, so now is the time to consult with us on getting started. We look forward to helping all you guys pursue your goal of owning your own business!

Starting a business in China is a great ambition for many budding entrepreneurs and an effective global strategy because of the constant growth of the Chinese market. China has something for everybody, but it is not always an easy place to do business and it is getting harder as a result of China’s harmonization of trade rules and tightening of loopholes. Tech in Asia recently recently reported on a seminar from Lean Startup Beijing that highlighted the benefits of opening a company in Hong Kong along with a WFOE in China. We think that there are some benefits to this strategy, but there are also some drawbacks to consider.

Here are a couple of the pros and cons to the strategy:

Pros

Tax Benefits

Opening a WFOE in China will require you to pay a 25% income tax on money made in China, while a Hong Kong Special Purpose Vehicle (HKSPV) has no tax on money made outside of HK. In Hong Kong, all funds can be managed easily and moved back and forth between the WOFE and HKSPV, for around a 5% transfer fee.

New Rules For WFOEs

As of March this year, there have been several changes that have made it easier for WFOEs to register. Minimum registered capital and capital verification have been eliminated, making the process to WFOE registration faster, cheaper, and more efficient.

Limited Liability

The HKSPV grants you limited liability, meaning the shareholder is liable up to the amount of capital invested. This company will also be liable for the registered capital of the WFOE. This approach may be better than the Joint Venture approach, as it gives more control and less room for conflict and disputes.

Cons

Cost

While there are some benefits to opening two companies, the downside is obviously the costs that will be incurred to run two accounts. It is easy to see why a lawyer may recommend opening two accounts (extra fees!), but this may not always be the right strategy for your business. Besides paying to open two accounts, you’ll also be responsible for the maintenance of two accounts, which may not be worth the extra hassle if your company isn’t yet generating enough capital.

Time Delays

Most start-ups want to hit the ground running and create their business as quickly as possible. While the WFOE isn’t the fastest option, as it generally taking 2-3 months, adding the extra step of getting a HK company doesn’t speed up the process. This adds extra paper work that many startups probably won’t want to deal with when trying to quickly launch.

Our recommendation for startups:

If you are a new company with limited funds, there is little reason for most companies to register a company in Hong Kong. The extra cost and time most likely won’t be worth it, unless you have a more complicated business structure. However, for a company that has the resources, the WFOE/HKSPV strategy may be a good one to pursue for tax benefits and limited liability.

On Monday, June 16th, the weekly Open 3D printing event took place in Yu-Link. Irmas Bortnikas, mayor of 3D Hubs, led the event exploring the use of 3D printing in robotics. The event kicked off with a TED talk delivered by a 17 year old student that built his own 3D printed robotic arm (Inspiring TED Talk) that are now used for experiments by NASA, and soon the robotic arms will be available to help the disabled.

Then the guest speaker of the evening, Rodolfo Cossovich, a Design Engineer with passion for robot-human machine interactions, explained to the audience his devotion to prototyping robots for children to use for education. He discussed his background with 3D printing and robotics and how he prototypes with a 3D printer.

To conclude the evening, the Yu-link office experiment was revealed, as the staff here will attempt to build a Bar Mixvah Cocktail Robot! Look forward to having some robotic cocktails with us when we complete the project.

On June 12, Yu-Link hosted Roberto & Company for a unique event in Shanghai that revealed the practical secrets of WeChat marketing. The WeChat Workshop, driven by Amirsan Roberto and his team, showed us the 7 Essential Elements of Effective WeChat Marketing that enabled Roberto & Co to generate massive profits for their company in a short amount of time.

Here are some of the secrets that they shared:

Get a Home Base

To start your WeChat campaign, you need a place to send your followers to start generating buzz and profits. Roberto & Co. recommends setting up a quick 5 minute blog/website using a product like Squarespace.

Put a Face On Your Business

In this day and age, people want to connect to a person rather than a boring, stuffy company. Instead of marketing solely under your brand, use yourself or your employees to add a personal touch when marketing your service or product. This

Share Your Resources

Chances are there are many potential partners out there that can help you distribute information about your business. Are there other groups or businesses out there that are reaching the same customers that you are trying to reach? Use the power of your existing network, or align with existing networks to help expand your reach and help them by sharing your own resources and content beneficial for them and their customers.

Pick a Primary Platform

Make sure that your target customers are actually using WeChat. If your customers are not in a country with heavy WeChat usage, maybe it’s not the best platform for you. Your social media platform of choice should be the channel where your customers are.

Manage Your Time

It’s important to balance the time you use on WeChat with your other business strategies. Use WeChat effectively by determining how much time you need to spend to get the biggest result.

Content First, Conversation Second

Use content to educate your customers about what they need to know to make an intelligent purchase. Focus on customer objections, questions, and problems.

Don’t Forget SEO

Search engine optimization is a superb complement to your WeChat strategy. Use your partners and links to your product or service to help reach the top spots in search engines.